Page 30 of A Shared Mind

“Uh, I’m not sure what’s going on, but should I call someone? Justin, this is a little different, uh...mood than I’ve seen in the few times we’ve gone out together.” Would my comments set him off? Fuck if I knew.

Suddenly, Justin’s demeanor changed again. “Please, Clay, forgive me, but it’s not me—”

Then Justin’s face changed again. “God, he can be a whiny bitch. Anyway, you gonna help us, or don’t you give a shit about the kid? If you come along, I might not get the kid killed.”

My brain was scrambled as I sat there watching the whole thing play out right in front of me. What did he mean he might not get the kid killed?

This was definitely new territory for me. “I...” I pulled my phone from my jeans’ pocket to call 9-1-1, when there was a loud growl next to me. I glanced down to see one of those big fucking dogs and the man holding the leashes. “Oh, hey.” Maybe I was the one suffering from a mental break?

Justin stared at the man as if he knew him. “Look, EZ, you gotta give me a break on this. Someone left the prison door unlocked and I was in the right place at the right time. I just need to find out which one of the theivin’ bastards popped me. Knowing what you know about me, you gotta let me find out, EZ.”

The handsome man with the smoldering good looks who I’d seen in my dream the previous week stared at me. Along with the gigantic dogs.

“You know the rules, Ramon. If you’re summoned during a séance, you return to Hades when it’s done. You don’t go rogue and possess an innocent human.” The guy with the dogs jumped as if he was going to hit Justin, but I wasn’t about to let that happen.

I grabbed his bicep. “I can’t let you hit him.” I stepped between EZ and Justin, who was cowering behind me.

The man turned to me, smiled, and snapped his fingers. “Okay. Damnation, go get him.”

The dog lunged for Justin, bared teeth and snarling. The other dog went around the table to stand behind Justin, and suddenly, the dog disappeared for an instant before he appeared again with the strangest thing I’d ever seen: A nearly transparent man was dragged by the leg along the travertine tile. The other dog jumped on him and breathed fire right into the man’s face.

Both dogs’ eyes were glowing red as they turned to EZ, awaiting further instructions. I glanced around the room to assess the other patrons’ reactions, but everyone was completely still as though a movie had been paused.

“Ho-ly fuck! What the hell?” I hurried over to Justin, who was flat on the floor with his eyes closed. I quickly touched his neck, grateful to feel a strong pulse. The relief was all encompassing.

EZ smirked as he snapped his fingers at the dogs to get their attention. “Run him to Hell.” Before I could blink, the spirit was running with those two massive dogs chasing him, snarling with jaws snapping.

Suddenly, Justin opened his eyes and gasped. “Jesus Fuck! What’s going on?”

“I have no idea, but I’m glad to see and hear you.” I held his face in my hands and gently kissed his lips. The entire encounter had to be a wild fever dream, but I wouldn’t waste the chance to kiss him before I woke.

“Sorry to bust this up,” the guy called EZ said. “But I gotta get going. Ramon will be destroyed unless you can provide any redeeming quality he might have. I can give you two weeks in human time, but that’s it. He broke the rules, so he’ll be punished for that. Meanwhile, I have to find out who released him. If you don’t think he’s worth redemption, go on about your life and never give him a second thought. But if you think there was a moment where you felt any compassion for him at all, then maybe try to find out who killed him and why.”

I helped poor Justin from the floor and wrapped my arm around his shoulders to steady him. “Give him a day to think about it.” Fuck if I knew what else to say.

“What kind of dogs were those?” Justin asked.

EZ smirked. “They’re hellhounds. This is their job, to retrieve spirits that escape to cause turmoil on the middle plane. I’m what you could call a demon hunter, and Damnation and Hellfire are my counterparts. I find ‘em, and they take ‘em back where they belong.”

With a quick salute and a muttered, “I’ll be in touch,” he was out the door and the noise inside the restaurant resumed. I scanned the room to see no one seemed fazed by what had just transpired.

I took Justin’s hand and led him out of the restaurant and straight to my truck. He hadn’t spoken since EZ disappeared, and I was afraid he was going into shock. Did Justin need medical attention? How would I even explain what happened to a medical professional?

“Justin, darlin’, please talk to me. I’m freaking out, but you’ve gotta explain to me what’s really going on. I’m not sure what I believe or what I don’t.” I opened the passenger door for him and helped him inside, buckling him into the seat because he didn’t move to do it himself.

I scanned the area but didn’t see his small SUV. At the moment, that was the least of my worries, but I didn’t want the guy’s ride to be stolen. “I’m going to call Eve and get the directions to your place.”

Justin turned to me and swallowed. “I-I can g-get us there.” He coughed and cleared his throat. “Go l-left toward the stoplight, then t-turn right.”

I started my truck and followed his directions. He seemed to snap out of his stupor, so once we were parked in front of his building, he appeared ready to talk. “Come inside, please.”

After turning off my truck, I stepped out and walked around the flatbed, opening his door for him. I held out my hand to help him from the truck because I guessed his legs were as wobbly as my own after what we’d both just witnessed.

“Come on. We both saw it, right?” I needed confirmation that I wasn’t hallucinating the entire incident.

Justin chuckled, which was surprising. “I feel like I was hypnotized and a thought was planted in my mind because that shit couldn’t have been real. One minute I’m in the dark because Ramon shoved me out of the way and is talking to you, and then the next moment I’m looking through my eyes to see Ramon being chased by those fucking dogs! I closed my eyes to try to figure out if it was a nightmare. I thought I would puke when I decided it wasn’t.”

We entered his building and took the stairs to his apartment. When he shoved his key in the lock, the door across the hallway opened and Eve stepped out wearing yoga pants and a baggy T-shirt with the NOLA Jazz emblem on the front.